The Structure of the Inmate Population in Czech Prisons. The aim of the study was to analyse how a social hierarchy among inmates in Czech prisons is formed and reinforced. The data presented in this paper is based on the original ethnographic research conducted in Czech prisons. The data for analysis was collected from qualitative interviews with selected participants of the prison environment, observations carried out inside the prisons and from documents related to the Czech prison service. The findings indicate that the formation of inmate hierarchy in Czech prisons is strongly influenced by both endogenous (physical strength, psychological manipulation, economic capital, criminal history) and exogenous (effect of prison authority) factors.
Sociológia 2015, Vol. 47, (No. 6: 559-578)

Unintentional Online Meeting of Partners: Specific Features, Attitudes, Experiences – Case Study in Serbia. This study presents results of exploration study on the specific features involved in the process of unintentional meeting partners via Internet in Serbia. The research was conducted using the method of focus groups, consisting of 28 people, who have had personal experience of meeting and communicating with their partners online, and successful continuing of the relationship in the offline world. They perceive more advantages than disadvantages in using the Internet as a means of communication with other people, assessing online space as a suitable environment for communication in which emotional intimacy can be achieved, despite the absence of social cues.
Sociológia 2015, Vol. 47 (No. 6: 579-604)

political socialization; panel data; transmission of political attitudes

Theoretical Perspectives and Methodological Approaches in Political Socialization Research. This article contributes to the discussion about political socialization concept and research. The paper makes a critical insight in research history and development in the area of political socialization with the conclusions that there is no universal definition of political socialization and the field is still burdened by many theoretical and empirical controversies which could be resolved by examining causal mechanisms operating in the process of political socialization. The literature review describes the development of research in this field and shows that there is persistent need for retesting basic hypotheses. Showing the advantages and disadvantages of panel data design the paper demonstrates why it is most suitable type of data for testing majority of the hypotheses of political socialization.
Sociológia 2015, Vol. 47 (No. 6: 605-624)

Czech Republic; local elections; political parties; parliamentary parties; non-parliamentary parties; local parties; local party system nationalisation

Nationalisation of the Czech Local Party System: Case Study of the 2010 Local Elections in Municipalities with Extended Powers. The question of party system nationalisation has recently come to the fore of research activities, as it emphasizes the importance of spatial aspects of the overall institutionalization of the party systems. However, within this topic, one area remains almost completely ignored. Specifically, an analysis of the interdependence of local party systems with the country’s national party system. In this article, we seek to address this existing gap in scholarly inquiry by examining local party system nationalisation using data from the 2010 local elections in the Czech Republic. We analyse the degree of local party system nationalisation (employing Kjær and Elklit’s index of local party system nationalisation) and test hypotheses about the effects of population size and other independent variables on varying degree of local party system nationalisation in 205 municipalities with extended powers and the capital city of Prague. We conclude that the best way to express the degree of local party system nationalisation is in effective terms. At the same time, we found two variables, which proved to have the greatest significant independent impact on the degree of local party system nationalisation – population size and competitiveness.
Sociológia 2015, Vol. 47 (No. 6: 625-656)